GeoMapping Titan's Polar Terrain Reveals Potential Sedimentary Deposits

Geomorphologic mapping of titan's polar terrains: Constraining surface processes and landscape evolution

Authors:

Birch et al

Abstract:

We present a geomorphologic map of Titan's polar terrains. The map was generated from a combination of Cassini Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Imaging Science Subsystem imaging products, as well as altimetry, SARTopo and radargrammetry topographic datasets. In combining imagery with topographic data, our geomorphologic map reveals a stratigraphic sequence from which we infer process interactions between units. In mapping both polar regions with the same geomorphologic units, we conclude that processes that formed the terrains of the north polar region also acted to form the landscape we observe at the south. Uniform, SAR-dark plains are interpreted as sedimentary deposits, and are bounded by moderately dissected uplands. These plains contain the highest density of filled and empty lake depressions, and canyons. These units unconformably overlay a basement rock that outcrops as mountains and SAR-bright dissected terrains at various elevations across both poles. All these units are then superposed by surficial units that slope towards the seas, suggestive of subsequent overland transport of sediment. From estimates of the depths of the embedded empty depressions and canyons that drain into the seas, the SAR-dark plains must be >600 m thick in places, though the thickness may vary across the poles. At the lowest elevations of each polar region, there are large seas, which are currently liquid methane/ethane filled at the north and empty at the south. The large plains deposits and the surrounding hillslopes may represent remnant landforms that are a result of previously vast polar oceans, where larger liquid bodies may have allowed for a sustained accumulation of soluble and insoluble sediments, potentially forming layered sedimentary deposits. Coupled with vertical crustal movements, the resulting layers would be of varying solubilities and erosional resistances, allowing formation of the complex landscape that we observe today.

Using Small Craters to Determine the Erosion Rates of Martian Sedimentary Rock

Mars sedimentary rock erosion rates constrained using crater counts, with applications to organic matter preservation and to the global dust cycle

Authors:

Kite et al

Abstract:

Small-crater counts on Mars light-toned sedimentary rock are often inconsistent with any isochron; these data are usually plotted then ignored. We show (using an 18-HiRISE-image, >10^4 crater dataset) that these non-isochron crater counts are often well-fit by a model where crater production is balanced by crater obliteration via steady exhumation. For these regions, we fit erosion rates. We infer that Mars light-toned sedimentary rocks typically erode at ~10^2 nm/yr, when averaged over 10 km^2 scales and 10^7-10^8 yr timescales. Crater-based erosion-rate determination is consistent with independent techniques, but can be applied to nearly all light-toned sedimentary rocks on Mars. Erosion is swift enough that radiolysis cannot destroy complex organic matter at some locations (e.g. paleolake deposits at SW Melas), but radiolysis is a severe problem at other locations (e.g. Oxia Planum). The data suggest that the relief of the Valles Marineris mounds is currently being reduced by wind erosion, and that dust production on Mars older than 3 Gya greatly exceeds the modern reservoir of mobile dust.

There was Significantly Less Sediment Laid Down During the Cryogenian NeoProterozoic (Snowball Earth) Glaciations

Slow net sediment accumulation sets snowball Earth apart from all younger glacial episodes

Authors:

Partin et al

Abstract:

During the Sturtian and Marinoan "snowball Earth" episodes, ice cover is thought to have extended from polar to tropical latitudes. We test the supposition that such an extreme glacial climate, not repeated in the subsequent ∼635 m.y. of Earth history, would have reduced the vigor of the hydrologic cycle and thus diminished sediment flux to the oceans. With >500 sediment accumulation rates to characterize Sturtian and Marinoan deposits, we find median accumulation rates at least four to 15 times slower than expected for Phanerozoic glaciomarine deposits as characterized by >10,000 rates. Our comparison is conservative with respect to time span, latitude, and distance from the ice margin. Phanerozoic accumulation rates decrease systematically when averaged over longer time spans. Comparisons were drawn, therefore, at 5 and 57 m.y. time spans to match minimum Marinoan and Sturtian durations, respectively. Cenozoic glaciomarine accumulation also slows with increasing latitude from temperate to polar climates and with increasing distance from the ice margin. After accounting for time span, snowball Earth deposits at low latitude are found to be thinner than would be expected either for high-latitude Cenozoic glacial deposits or for very distal glaciomarine abyssal muds with ice-rafted debris. The rate discrepancy is not readily attributed to overestimates of the total Marinoan or Sturtian durations. If sediment fluxes during warm melt intervals did approach Phanerozoic rates, these intervals must have occupied a much smaller proportion of snowball Earth episodes than in younger glacial climates.

Traces of Storms From the PaleoArchean Found

Sedimentology of the ∼3.3 Ga upper Mendon Formation, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa

Authors:

Trower et al

Abstract:

The Mendon Formation is the uppermost unit of the 3.5–3.26 Ga Onverwacht Group in the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa. It consists of a cyclic stack of komatiitic volcanic units separated by thin cherty sedimentary layers. In most areas, the uppermost Mendon Formation is a sedimentary interval characterized by black chert, banded black-and-white chert, and banded ferruginous chert, although the detailed patterns of lithofacies in different sections are more complex. Previously reported zircon U/Pb ages suggest that Mendon deposition could represent more than 70 Myr of time between ∼3334 Ma and ∼3260 Ma.

This study presents sedimentological and petrographic observations of the upper Mendon Formation from across the central part of the Barberton Greenstone Belt in order to investigate sediment sources, depositional processes, and environments of sedimentation. The dominant mode of sedimentation was quiet settling of carbonaceous grains and, in the deepest sections below storm wave base, fine ferruginous material, resulting in finely laminated black and grey chert. In situ carbonaceous laminations are rare, suggesting that benthic microbial mat growth had little direct influence on deposition. The hemipelagic background deposition was punctuated by occasional inputs of fine pyroclastic debris, formation and deposition of silica granules, and reworking by infrequent storm events. Storm deposits are represented by coarse-grained, poorly-sorted intraclast breccias, some of which include distinctive intraclasts sampling lithofacies that are not observed in situ. Despite considerable lateral variability, correlative temporal trends are resolvable in many Mendon sections: there is an upward-deepening of the overall depositional setting recorded in the oldest upper Mendon sections, consistent with the previous interpretation that Mendon time was characterized by rifting (Lowe, 1994a, 1999a). Younger Mendon cycles include thick, relatively ferruginous basal sections, interpreted to reflect the deepest water deposition. These sections are capped by black chert and silicified ashes with more evidence of disturbance and reworking by storms, reflecting gradual shoaling. This sedimentological analysis is broadly consistent with previous geochemical and tectonic analyses and provides a better picture of depositional patterns during uppermost Onverwacht time, before the distinct change in tectonic regime marked by impact spherule layer S2 and the onset of Fig Tree Group orogenesis and related siliciclastic deposition.

Microbially Induced Sedimentary Structures From Paleoproterozoic Canada

Microbially induced sedimentary structures in the Paleoproterozoic, upper Huronian Supergroup, Canada

Authors:

Hill et al

Abstract:

The Paleoproterozoic Gordon Lake and Bar River formations, Huronian Supergroup, contain a variety of sedimentary structures in the Flack Lake area of Ontario, Canada, that have been considered of debatable origin. We identify these structures as microbially induced sedimentary structures (MISS). The preserved MISS are related to microbial mat destruction and decay, and include sand cracks, mat chips, remnant gas domes, pyrite patches, and iron laminae. A biological origin for the fossil structures is supported by their similarities to modern and ancient documented examples of MISS, the sand-dominated nature of the substrate in which they are preserved, and key microtextures identified in thin section. Microtextures include curled, frayed and layered mat chips, carbonaceous laminae, oriented grains, and concentrated heavy minerals. On outcrop scale, the presence of desiccation cracks, flaser and lenticular bedding, and ripples in association with the types of MISS identified in the Gordon Lake Formation support the interpretation of a tidal flat depositional environment. The Gordon Lake Formation contains a greater number and diversity of MISS than the overlying Bar River Formation, as a result of lower energy deposition in the former. The quartz arenite of the Bar River Formation contains fine-grained to pebbly granulestone characterized mainly by tangential and planar cross beds, which is consistent with a tidal channel or sand shoal setting. Although fossil evidence of life is rare in the rocks of the Huronian Supergroup, identification of MISS in the Flack Lake area provides a significant and convincing indication of microbial colonization at the time of deposition.

Evidence of Archean Sediment Deposition During the Archean

U–Pb–Hf isotope systematics of detrital zircons in high-grade paragneisses of the Ancient Gneiss Complex, Swaziland: Evidence for two periods of juvenile crust formation, Paleo- and Mesoarchaean sediment deposition, and 3.23 Ga terrane accretion

Authors:

Taylor et al

Abstract:

We present the first results of combined U–Pb and Lu–Hf isotope analyses of detrital zircon grains, in high-grade paragneisses (Luboya-Kubuta granulites) from the ca. 3.66–3.22 Ga Ancient Gneiss Complex (AGC) in Swaziland. Uranium–Pb ages demonstrate that sedimentation along the SE margin of the proto-Kaapvaal Craton took place during two time intervals: during the Paleoarchaean ca. 3.53 and >3.43 Ga; and Mesoarchaean ca. 3.22 and >3.16 Ga. The Hf-isotope data show that the hinterland to the Paleoarchaean metasediments experienced juvenile crust formation from a depleted mantle source at ca. 3.53 Ga (ƐHf3.53Ga values between −0.7 and +4.1), and by reworking of more ancient crust (TDM = 3.8–3.6 Ga). In contrast, detrital zircons in Mesoarchaean metasediments record juvenile crust formation at 3.32 Ga (ƐHf3.32Ga values between −1.5 and +6.0; TDM = 3.45–3.32 Ga), followed by internal reworking of this crust until 3.22 Ga. A small number of detrital zircons indicate limited input from older, Paleoarchaean AGC crust. Compared to sediments of the Barberton Greenstone Belt, i.e. Fig Tree and Moodies Group, the Mesoarchaean metasediments of Swaziland are more juvenile in character, and show greater complexity in their detrital zircon age spectra, pointing towards a different provenance. Our new U–Pb–Hf isotope data, together with field and petrological information from the study area, suggest that the Paleoarchaean metasediments were largely derived from the AGC; whereas the Mesoarchaean metasediments were derived from a ca. 3.45–3.32 Ga juvenile island-arc terrane (located SE of the AGC), which became accreted onto the Kaapvaal Craton at ca. 3.23 Ga, i.e. the onset of burial and high-grade metamorphism in the area.

Depositional setting of Algoma-type banded iron formation

Depositional setting of Algoma-type banded iron formation

Authors:

Gourcerol et al

Abstract:

Algoma-type banded iron formations (BIF) are chemical sedimentary rocks characterized by alternating layers of iron-rich minerals and chert that are generally interstratified with bimodal submarine volcanic rocks and/or sedimentary sequences in Archean greenstone belts. However, the geological setting for Algoma-type BIF deposition remains equivocal due to the effects of post-depositional deformation and metamorphism, and absence of modern analogues for comparative studies. It is commonly accepted that the abundance of rare earth element and yttrium (REE + Y) in chert bands may retain a primary geochemical signature and therefore constrain their geological setting. In order to explore the latter, a geochemical study using the laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) methodology was done using cherts from four Canadian BIF-hosted gold deposits. These results suggest that chert bands record: (1) interaction of seawater with Fe-oxyhydroxides, as suggested by their heavy REE enrichment coupled with La and Y enrichments; (2) contributions from high-temperature (>250 °C) hydrothermal fluids, as suggested by positive Eu excursions; and (3) detrital contamination, which is suggested by relatively consistent REE concentrations and a chondritic Y/Ho ratio (i.e., Y/Ho ≈ 27). Water-column pH conditions at the time of BIF deposition are evaluated using Ce/Ce∗: a positive Ce/Ce∗ anomaly suggests relatively acidic conditions (i.e., pH ⩽ 5) for most of the chert samples, but more alkaline conditions (i.e., pH ⩾ 5) for samples showing Fe-oxyhydroxide precipitation within chert bands. Finally, in situ using secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) analysis (n = 73) of chert from Meliadine show the δ18O of primary amorphous silica (+27‰) was modified to values of around +8‰ to +20‰ during diagenesis at temperatures >100 °C with a fluid having δ18OH2O=0–5‰δ18OH2O=0–5‰. Thus, whereas there has been O isotopic exchange during diagenesis, the REEs and trace elements are not modified in the chert due to the low concentrations of these elements in the reacting fluid of sea water origin.

A Look at the Assselian Permian fluvial deposits of West Virginia Suggests More Humid Climate

A paleopedological and ichnological approach to interpreting spatial and temporal variability in Early Permian fluvial deposits of the lower Dunkard Group, West Virginia, U.S.A.

Authors:

Hembree et al

Abstract:

Lower Permian (Asselian) deposits of the Washington Formation (Dunkard Group) in West Virginia (U.S.A.) represent proximal to distal expressions of a migrating, anastomosing river and associated floodplain environments. These deposits are part of the upper fluvial plain province of the Dunkard Basin characterized by thick-to-thin sandstone bodies, shales, and paleosols. The paleosols and associated ichnofossils record a wealth of paleoenvironmental, paleoecological, and paleoclimatic data which improve our understanding of the autogenic and allogenic processes that result in the spatial and temporal variability of ancient fluvial systems. This study integrates field and laboratory analysis of paleosols and ichnofossils including macro- to micromorphology, bulk geochemistry, and clay mineralogy to better understand variations in soil-forming processes across this Early Permian floodplain. Nine different pedotypes were identified including proximal, poorly developed Entisols and Inceptisols, poorly drained Histosols, and thick, moderately to well-drained Inceptisols and Vertisols. Lateral differences in paleosol properties were minor compared to the diversity of paleosols present in the vertical exposure and were largely a result of localized variations in drainage and topography. Differences in the properties of the paleosols in the vertical succession could not be explained by variable drainage due to position on the floodplain. Cyclicity was largely controlled by avulsion, but was overprinted by changes in climate. While climatic drying during the Early Permian as a general trend is well established, smaller scale fluctuations between wet and dry intervals contributed significantly to observed paleosol properties. Dominance by calcareous Vertisols in the upper fluvial plain facies province and their representation of strongly seasonal conditions are consistent with previous research; however, thorough investigation of the paleosols suggests that more humid conditions existed than the arid to semiarid climate that has been suggested.

Evidence of Successions of Different Microbial Biota From MesoArchean South Africa

Sedimentology and facies analysis of Mesoarchaean stromatolitic carbonate rocks of the Pongola Supergroup, South Africa

Authors:

Shishi et al

Abstract:

The c. 3.0 Ga old Chobeni Formation (Nsuze Group, Pongola Supergroup) contains several carbonate successions interpreted to have been deposited in a tide-dominated, shallow-marine environment. Facies consist of mixed siliciclastic and carbonate rocks and include subtidal cross-bedded sandstone and oncolitic dolostone, intertidal wave-rippled oodolarenite, and supratidal wrinkly-laminated dolarenite–dololutite. Sedimentary facies are partially arranged in a shallowing-upward pattern reflecting cyclic variations of Mesoarchaean sea level. Microbialites occur in a variety of sedimentary sub-environments and include laminated as well as structureless, lenticular-domal types. Differences in microbialite morphology, macrofabric, and size suggest potentially distinct assemblages of microorganisms responding to different physicochemical and environmental conditions. Microbialite textures are consistent with in situ carbonate precipitation and to a lesser extent by trapping and binding of sediment. Despite their great age, the Pongola carbonates are compositionally and texturally very similar to much younger carbonate successions preserved in the geological record.

Evidence for an Aptian Cretaceous Carbon Perturbation in China

Lacustrine sedimentary record of early Aptian carbon cycle perturbation in western Liaoning, China

Authors:

Zhang et al

Abstract:

The early Aptian abrupt carbon isotope excursion in marine carbonate and sedimentary organic matter reflects a major perturbation in the global carbon cycle. However, until now almost all the evidences of this event came from marine deposits. Here we present organic-carbon isotope (δ13Corg) data from the non-marine Jehol Group in western Liaoning, China. The lacustrine δ13Corg curve is marked by a relative long-lasting δ13Corg minimum followed by two stages of positive δ13Corg excursions that are well correlated with contemporaneous marine records. The carbon isotope correlation shows that the lacustrine strata of the Jehol Group were deposited at the same time of the early Aptian Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE1a). The relative long-lasting δ13Corg minimum supports the hypothesis that volcanic CO2 emission may have played the main role in triggering the negative δ13C excursion and global warming at the onset of this event. In addition, the onset of δ13Corg minimum is concomitant with the radiation of the Jehol Biota, implying that the evolutionary radiation of the Jehol Biota may have been closely related with the increase in atmospheric CO2 and temperature.

Consider Romer's Gap Plugged! New Floodplain Siltstone Deposit From Scotland Preserves Tetrapods From Tournaisian Carboniferous

Early Mississippian sandy siltstones preserve rare vertebrate fossils in seasonal flooding episodes

Authors:

Bennett et al

Abstract:

Flood-generated sandy siltstones are under-recognised deposits that preserve key vertebrate (actinopterygians, rhizodonts, and rarer lungfish, chondrichthyans and tetrapods), invertebrate and plant fossils. Recorded for the first time from the Lower Mississippian Ballagan Formation of Scotland, more than 140 beds occur throughout a 490 m thick core succession characterised by fluvial sandstones, palaeosols, siltstones, dolostone ‘cementstones’ and gypsum from a coastal–alluvial plain setting. Sandy siltstones are described as a unique taphofacies of the Ballagan Formation. They are matrix-supported siltstones with millimetre-sized siltstone and very fine sandstone lithic clasts. Common bioclasts include plants and megaspores, fish, ostracods, eurypterids and bivalves. Fossils have a high degree of articulation compared with those found in other fossil-bearing deposits such as conglomerate lags at the base of fluvial channel sandstones. Bed thickness and distribution varies throughout the formation, with no stratigraphic trend. The matrix sediment and clasts are sourced from the reworking of floodplain sediments including desiccated surfaces and palaeosols. Secondary pedogenic modification affects 30% of the sandy siltstone beds and most (71%) overlie palaeosols or desiccation cracks. Sandy siltstones are interpreted as cohesive debris flow deposits that originated by the overbank flooding of rivers and due to localised floodplain sediment transport at times of high rainfall; their association with palaeosols and desiccation cracks indicates seasonally wet to dry cycles throughout the Tournaisian. Tetrapod and fish fossils derived from floodplain lakes and land surfaces are concentrated by local erosion and reworking and are preserved by deposition into temporary lakes on the floodplain; their distribution indicates a local origin, with sediment distributed across the floodplain in seasonal rainfall episodes. These deposits are significant new sites that can be explored for the preservation of rare non-marine fossil material and provide unique insights into the evolution of early terrestrial ecosystems.

Archaean Volcanic Sediment From MesoArchean to NeoArchean in Finland

U-Pb geochronology of Archaean volcanic-sedimentary sequences in the Kuhmo greenstone belt, Karelia Province–multiphase volcanism from Meso- to Neoarchaean and an Archaean depositional basin?

Authors:

Lehtonen et al

Abstract:

The Kuhmo greenstone belt in eastern Finland is one of the most studied areas of the Karelia Province. A single-grain zircon U-Pb study of andesitic, trachyandesitic and dacitic volcanic rocks from the belt demonstrates multiple widely spaced ages of the rocks. The results show that the volcanic activity took place as two major episodes at ca. 2847–2836 Ma and ca. 2799–2792 Ma, both containing komatiitic members as well as volcanic-sedimentary units. Based on the geochronological results combined with previously published data, we propose a chronostratigraphic interpretation for the Kuhmo greenstone belt, dividing it into three units: the Nuolikangas and Siivikkovaara volcanic units, and the sedimentary Ronkaperä unit. The results support the previous interpretation that age period of 2.80–2.79 Ga was an important crustal forming episode in the Kuhmo area. The zircon populations in the uppermost sedimentary rocks contain greater than 3.0 Ga zircon grains that are older than the volcanic rocks found in the greenstone belt. The youngest detrital zircon populations, ca. 2.73 Ga and 2.70 Ga in a conglomerate and quartz sandstone, respectively, imply that they were deposited at least ca. 60–90 Ma after the last volcanic phase. Based on the detrital zircon record, it can be interpreted that during the deposition of the detritus of the sedimentary rocks belonging to the Ronkaperä unit, the Karelia subprovinces were likely juxtaposed together and acted as a source provenance for the detritus.

The Anthropocene is Geologically Synomous With the Holocene

A new analysis of the fossil record shows that a deep pattern in nature remained the same for 300 million years. Then, 6,000 years ago, the pattern was disrupted -- at about the same time that agriculture spread across North America.

"When early humans started farming and became dominant in the terrestrial landscape, we see this dramatic restructuring of plant and animal communities," said University of Vermont biologist Nicholas Gotelli, an expert on statistics and the senior author on the new study.

In the hunt for the beginning of the much-debated "Anthropocene" -- a supposed new geologic era defined by human influence of the planet -- the new research suggests a need to look back farther in time than the arrival of human-caused climate change, atomic weapons, urbanization or the industrial revolution.

link.

Keep in mind, the Holocene dates from 10k years ago.  4k years, in the geological sense, is nothing and probably would not be detectable in 5 million years in the future.  Furthermore, if the overkill hypothesis is correct, then the anthropocene started at the megafauna kills 10k years ago.  Gosh.  That's EXACTLY the Holocene.

The Holocene has priority based on publication date.

Let's stop using that stupid term.

Climate Influences Sediments From High Altitude Sources

In a new paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), San Francisco State University Professor of Earth and Climate Sciences Leonard Sklar and colleagues show how two established geochemical techniques can be combined in a novel way to reveal both the altitude where river rocks were originally produced and the rate of erosion that led them to crumble into the river.

Geologists have long dreamed of interviewing the rocks on the bed of a river to learn the story of where they were born and how they came to be the size they are. This is because the size of river rocks influences how rivers behave, from the habitat they provide to the speed with which they carve canyons. Yet, until now, the rocks have withheld their secrets.

Sklar, along with lead author Cliff Riebe and doctoral student Claire Lukens from the University of Wyoming and David Shuster from the University of California, Berkeley, wanted to understand how climate, which varies with altitude, controls the size and flux of sediments in rivers.

The National Science Foundation-funded research team's key breakthrough came when it used two techniques to query river rocks. First, researchers used cosmogenic nuclides to trace erosion rates in sediment samples. This common method of measuring erosion rates uses rare isotopes formed in minerals exposed to cosmic rays at the earth's surface. A higher concentration of isotopes means the rock has spent a longer time exposed at the surface, indicating a slower erosion rate.

They then combined this technique with detrital thermochronometry, another sediment tracing tool, which pinpoints where on a mountain sediment was produced. This is done by laboriously isolating tiny crystals of the mineral apatite and using ultraprecise machines to count the number of helium atoms contained in the crystals. The helium is formed by radioactive decay of uranium and is more abundant in rocks at higher elevations in the study area.

link.

Heterolithic Meandering-channel Deposits From Neoproterozoic Scotland may Give Insight to Martian Riverbeds

Heterolithic meandering-channel deposits from the Neoproterozoic of NW Scotland: Implications for palaeogeographic reconstructions of Precambrian sedimentary environments

Authors:

Santos et al

Abstract:

Pre-Silurian fine-grained meandering river deposits are apparently rare in the rock record. Most modern-day river dynamics are influenced by vegetation through bank stabilization, fine-grained sediment production and retention, and runoff control, leading to the development of highly sinuous, single-channel systems. In contrast, pre-vegetation river dynamics are poorly understood, in part because there are no modern-day analogues for completely non-vegetated meandering river systems, particularly under humid climates. Some models attribute the paucity of fine-grained sediments described from studies of pre-vegetation fluvial deposits to lower rates of chemical weathering in the absence of land plants. The architecture of precambrian, fine-grained meandering stream deposits is here described for the first time.

The Allt na Béiste Member at the base of the Applecross Formation of the Torridon Group (Neoproterozoic, NW Scotland) is characterized by heterolithic deposits, preserving a varied suite of fluvial forms including inclined heterolithic strata, lateral-accretion sets, up to 8 m-thick muddy floodplain deposits with preserved crevasse-splays. Successions of laterally-accreting strata are interbedded with metre-scale channel-fill sandstones, in a succession up to 190 m-thick related to the early stages of the Applecross Formation fluvial system, as large-scale rivers buried the Lewisian palaeovalleys over which fluvial and lacustrine sediments of the Diabaig Formation had been deposited. The lacustrine fine-grained sediments, coupled with relatively low gradients of the shallow lacustrine environments and denuded, highly weathered Lewisian basement, apparently provided considerable amounts of fine-grained sediment which added sufficient cohesion to this fluvial system to induce the adoption of laterally-migrating, meandering channel planforms at the expense of multi-thread braided channels.

Our data suggest that, given appropriate conditions, pre-vegetation meandering channel planforms were indeed able to develop, without the buffering effects of land plants. The paucity of fine-grained sediments in the pre-vegetation rock record may be more a consequence of preservation-related issues than the actual paucity of such sediments. These results provide novel insights into the characteristics of Earth's landscape prior to the Silurian, and provide potential analogues for meandering channels interpreted from satellite imagery of Mars.

Continuous Neoproterozoic to Ordovician Sedimentation in Victoria Land, Antarctica

Continuous Neoproterozoic to Ordovician sedimentation at the East Gondwana margin – implications from detrital zircons of the Ross Orogen in northern Victoria Land, Antarctica

Authors:

Estrada et al

Abstract:

The Ross-Delamerian orogenic belt was formed along the eastern side of the Australian-East Antarctic continent during west-directed subduction of the Palaeo-Pacific Ocean in the early Palaeozoic. Northern Victoria Land (NVL) in Antarctica was located at a central position of the Ross-Delamerian system. Its metamorphic basement is formed by three lithotectonic units formerly interpreted as terranes: the Wilson, Bowers and Robertson Bay terranes (from west to east). Dating of detrital zircons from 14 metasedimentary samples of these terranes combined with petrographical and whole-rock geochemical studies give new insights into the stratigraphic and tectonic evolution of NVL. All samples show very similar zircon age spectra with two main intervals, a Ross/Pan-African-age interval (470–700 Ma) and a Grenville-age interval (900–1300 Ma), as well as subordinate craton-related ages dispersed over the range of ca. 1600–3500 Ma. The Ross/Pan-African-age zircon population tends to get more dominant from the Priestley Formation of the Wilson Terrane to the Molar Formation of the Bowers Terrane, and finally to the Robertson Bay Group, whereas the number of craton-related ages diminishes in this direction. A common East Antarctic source area is indicated for all analyzed samples. The Priestley Formation was deposited on the Palaeo-Pacific passive continental margin of East Gondwana in the late Neoproterozoic after Rodinia breakup. The sequence was subsequently metamorphosed and intruded by the Granite Harbour Intrusives during the Ross Orogeny. The Molar Formation of the Bowers Terrane is interpreted as a turbiditic sequence deposited in an accretionary setting on the active continental margin in the Late Cambrian during and after accretion of the Glasgow island arc allochthon. The thick, homogeneous sequence of the Robertson Bay Group resulted from continuous turbiditic sedimentation in an accretionary wedge in front of the Ross Orogen after docking and imbrication of the Glasgow island arc in the Early Ordovician.

The Implications of the Cambrian Brachiopod Fauna From the Three Gorges area of China

The Cambrian brachiopod fauna from the first-trilobite age Shuijingtuo Formation in the Three Gorges area of China

Authors:

Zhang et al

Abstract:

The Yangtze platform of South China offers evidence within its Ediacaran–Cambrian geological record of the Cambrian explosion and diversification events in metazoan history. To understand the explosive radiation of animals and the environments in which it took place, the basal Cambrian fauna succession of the Aijiahe section in the Three Gorges area, western Hubei Province, has been studied, revealing the earliest brachiopod fauna (Tsunyidiscus trilobite Zone) in this region, which was dominated numerically by Acrotretoids. This is accompanied by abundant skeletal fossils including minute well-preserved phosphatized archaeocyath cups and an assortment of abundant sponge spicules, chancelloriids, mollusks, hyoliths, and bradoriids, retrieved by acid-etching limestone interbeds in the black shale-dominated Shuijingtuo Formation (Series 2). The brachiopods comprise two species of acrotretoids, two types of botsfordiids (Botsfordiidae gen. et sp. indet. A and B), and four species of linguloids. Of the latter, Spinobolus popovi n. gen. n. sp. is strikingly distinctive and typified by spine-like ornamentation seen for the first time in the Lower Cambrian; the remaining three linguloid genera, Palaeobolus, Eoobolus, and Lingulellotreta, have a trans-paleocontinental distribution. The Three Gorges Shuijingtuo brachiopod assemblage differs from that of the upper Atdabanian Stage (Cambrian Stage 3) in Siberia and South China, but shows great similarities with those discovered in the Tsanglangpuan (equivalent to Botoman or Stage 4) Stage of eastern Yunnan Province, Siberia, and South Australia, suggesting a much more prolonged sedimentary hiatus in basalmost Shuijingtuo Formation of the Three Gorges area than previously expected. The presence of such unconformities provides a caveat to stable isotope-based correlations that involve a number of discussions of global ocean geochemical changes across the time interval that witnessed Cambrian explosion of metazoans.

Snowball Earth Era Sedimentary Formations Found in China

U–Pb age and Hf isotope composition of detrital zircons from Neoproterozoic sedimentary units in southern Anhui Province, South China: Implications for the provenance, tectonic evolution and glacial history of the eastern Jiangnan Orogen

Authors:

Cui et al

Abstract:

Neoproterozoic sedimentary units at the southeastern margin of the Yangtze Block, South China, record a complex geological history including development of the Jiangnan Orogen during assembly of the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks and later episodes of glacial activity. The timing of these events is controversial, and we have used U–Pb–Hf compositions of detrital zircons from the Lantian type section to constrain their ages in southern Anhui Province, at the eastern end of the Jiangnan Orogen. This section comprises the Xikou Group below an angular unconformity, and the Xiuning Formation and overlying glacial Leigongwu Formation above the unconformity. Detrital zircons in all three units are dominated by 2.6–2.4 Ga, 2.1–1.9 Ga and 960–740 Ma age populations suggesting erosion from similar source regions, and an increasing proportion of older grains up through the sequence reflects a change in depositional environment from syn-collisional to extensional. Pre-Neoproterozoic zircon grains were derived from the Yangtze Block basement, much of which is now concealed by younger rocks, while the Neoproterozoic population was eroded from local igneous rocks in the Jiangnan Orogen. Zircon Hf isotope compositions indicate that 2.6–2.4 Ga source rocks were a mix of juvenile and reworked crust, while 2.1–1.9 Ga source rocks were dominated by reworked crust. Neoproterozoic sources show a switch from 960–860 Ma juvenile crust to 860–740 Ma juvenile and reworked crust, reflecting a transition in the Jiangnan Orogen from subduction to collision and extension. The youngest detrital grains in the Xikou Group and overlying Xiuning Formation indicate deposition after ca. 810 Ma and ca. 732 Ma, respectively, correlating closely with comparable sequences elsewhere in the Yangtze Block. This demonstrates that the unconformity in South Anhui is part of a regional erosion surface that formed more or less synchronously throughout the orogen at 830–800 Ma, consistent with it dating the end of collision between the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks. The age of the overlying glacial Leigongwu Formation is difficult to constrain from detrital zircons because of a paucity of post-720 Ma source rocks, but our data suggest the Leigongwu diamictite in the Lantian section is a single Marinoan-age glacial unit deposited after 649 ± 13 Ma. It follows that a carbonate layer in the middle of the Leigongwu diamictite in the Lantian section most likely reflects later faulting, rather than two separate glacial sequences, although we cannot rule out the presence of both Sturtian and Marinoan diamictite elsewhere in South Anhui.

Alluvial response to the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum

Alluvial response to the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum climatic event, Polecat Bench, Wyoming (U.S.A.)

Authors:

Kraus et al

Abstract:

The stratigraphic interval spanning the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum in the northern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming shows changes in the alluvial record that can be tied to a high resolution climate record. The complexity and stratigraphic spacing of paleosols change through the study section. Comparison to the climate record, reconstructed from paleosols, indicates the changes correspond to Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum climatic fluctuations. In particular, the middle of the section contains thick, welded paleosols and thin avulsion deposits that link to times of well-drained floodplains and lower mean annual precipitation. Stratigraphic intervals below and above the main part of the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum interval correspond to times of less well drained floodplains and higher mean annual precipitation. These strata contain thinner paleosols and thick avulsion deposits.

Differences in paleosol complexity and spacing suggest that sediment flux to the depositional site varied in response to precipitation fluctuations associated with the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum. Welded paleosols and thin avulsion deposits indicate reduced floodplain accretion during deposition of the middle of the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum. Intervals with widely spaced paleosols indicate more rapid accretion. We hypothesize that drier episodes associated with warming caused reduced vegetation in source areas and promoted erosion and increased sediment yield. Because precipitation was reduced, much of that sediment was stored in upstream reaches of the fluvial system rather than moving to the depositional basin. Welded paleosols formed because of diminished sediment supply to the basin. With a return to wetter conditions during the recovery phase of the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum, upstream water flux increased, stored sediment moved to the basin, and vertically spaced, thinner paleosols developed. The results demonstrate how vertical sections of alluvial paleosols can provide information on how climate fluctuated through time and how the fluvial system responded to climate change.

Ediacara Member is Really Deposiited in the Shallow Marine Environs, not Terrestrial or Deep Ocean

Depositional and preservational environments of the Ediacara Member, Rawnsley Quartzite (South Australia): Assessment of paleoenvironmental proxies and the timing of ‘ferruginization’

Authors:

Tarhan et al

Abstract:

The paleoenvironmental setting in which the Ediacara Biota lived, died and was preserved in the eponymous Ediacara Member of the Rawnsley Quartzite of South Australia is an issue of longstanding interest and recent debate. Over the past few decades, interpretations have ranged from deep marine to shelfal to intertidal to terrestrial. Here we examine the evidence in support of and against various paleoenvironmental interpretations of the fossiliferous Ediacara Member, as well as exploring in depth a range of paleoenvironmental proxies that have historically been employed in such studies. We emphasize the importance of reconciling paleoenvironmental analysis with an understanding of sedimentological processes and outline which proxies are consistent with this approach. A careful assessment of paleoenvironmental parameters is essential to the reconstruction of the depositional and early diagenetic history of the Ediacara Biota and thus the physical, chemical and biological factors that shaped the development and the fossilization of these earliest examples of complex life. We find no compelling evidence for a terrestrial setting for the Ediacara Member and strong support for a shallow marine depositional environment.